Blue Marvel Appreciation 2020

[JudicatorPrime]

I've always thought the timing of Adam and Sentry coming out so closely was a little unfortunate. Not that the characters were identical... but there was enough overlap to the point where one potentially could steal the others thunder a little.

For the longest time that was kind of the Black Panther's problem when he first joined the Avengers. Everyone at the time figured that if you needed a fighter, you might as well keep Captain America on the roster. Amazing how no one remembers any of that now.

Sentry and Adam each have their own unique stories and origins. The writers have to do a better job of reinforcing that.

They also need to stop writing Adam like he's Clark Kent. But that's a topic for another time.

[XPac]

For the longest time that was kind of the Black Panther's problem when he first joined the Avengers. Everyone at the time figured that if you needed a fighter, you might as well keep Captain America on the roster. Amazing how no one remembers any of that now.

Sentry and Adam each have their own unique stories and origins. The writers have to do a better job of reinforcing that.

They also need to stop writing Adam like he's Clark Kent. But that's a topic for another time.

It's not that Adam and Bob are even THAT similar... but because they're both potential marvel Superman analogues, I do suspect there are times Adam would have been used in a story if Sentry didn't exist.

There were a couple stories where Moon Knight and Sentry teamed up as an obvious analogue to Batman and Superman (one even had Carol in there as a WW analogue). That easily could have been Adam... or Hyperion or Gladiator for that matter. But because Sentry at the time was more high profile, he was the more obvious choice. Not that I'm knocking Sentry mind you... I'm a big fan of him too. Just saying that because they are both potential Superman analogues (though less so than Hyperion), they're direct competition for those sort of spots. Of course, both are far more than JUST Superman analogues (unlike say Hyperion), so ideally both should have more roles than just that.

[mugiwara]

Well, I guess I don't expect anything anymore from the Doom series. For BM, at least.
I don't care much about power feats, but I expected at least some decent interactions.
But so far, if he was replaced with Ultra Girl or Hyperion, everything would be exactly the same.

[Michael Watkins]

maybe he should join a space team. technically, the Ultimates was a space team. but they operated a lot differently from the Guardians of the Galaxy.

[dkrook]

maybe he should join a space team. technically, the Ultimates was a space team. but they operated a lot differently from the Guardians of the Galaxy.

Funny that you mentioned them. My hope was that Adam would have been put on that team or at least considered for the Annihilation mini.

[Intothevoid]

Adam appeared in Doom #5.

[JudicatorPrime]

Adam appeared in Doom #5.

And if you like seeing someone like Silver Sable body slam Adam, sure, pick it up. Otherwise, I wouldn't bother. Adam is definitely getting D-list jobber treatment. You'd never see a battle with Sentry or Thor or Silver Surfer vs. Victorious, Doctor Doom, Kang and Sable go down like this. Weak stuff. Sure, Blue annihilates one timestream version of Kang, but Kang's alt reappears seconds later. File under, "When a feat is not a feat." Happy Black History Month, everyone!

[JudicatorPrime]

Well, I guess I don't expect anything anymore from the Doom series. For BM, at least.
I don't care much about power feats, but I expected at least some decent interactions.
But so far, if he was replaced with Ultra Girl or Hyperion, everything would be exactly the same.

Bingo. I go back and forth with people all of the time. They'd rather have him show up, but to me the content and context matters. Bad writing and bad handling will cost Adam fans. He's better off not appearing until someone comes along who will give him the proper treatment.

I agree that they could have used someone other than Adam for the Doom series. I still haven't figured out why he's there other than to be Reed Richards' gopher and Doom's whipping boy. Writers really need to learn that when Adam steps on the scene he has to be his own man. Treat him like an alpha, not a beta. Anything less won't do. And for the love of God, keep stupid, mechanical, side-crutch sidekicks like H.E.R.B.I.E. out of it. I mean it's not like Blue can't create his own HERBIE if he wanted to. But he doesn't because he doesn't need one. Just like Thor, Sentry, Surfer, etc., don't need one.

[The Cool Thatguy]

Adam appeared in Doom #5.

Almost the entirety of this series is a bunch of vaguely Doom related plots thrown together, good lord.

But hey, Blue didn't get it the worst. They killed Amy Chen in an amazingly sexist and out of character fashion.

[mugiwara]

The writer seems to have a high opinion of steet level characters.
Doom jobs to Agent Zero.
Victorious jobs to Silver Sable.
And now that. I see a pattern.

[Midnight_v]

It's not that Adam and Bob are even THAT similar... but because they're both potential marvel Superman analogues, I do suspect there are times Adam would have been used in a story if Sentry didn't exist.

There were a couple stories where Moon Knight and Sentry teamed up as an obvious analogue to Batman and Superman (one even had Carol in there as a WW analogue). That easily could have been Adam... or Hyperion or Gladiator for that matter. But because Sentry at the time was more high profile, he was the more obvious choice. Not that I'm knocking Sentry mind you... I'm a big fan of him too. Just saying that because they are both potential Superman analogues (though less so than Hyperion), they're direct competition for those sort of spots. Of course, both are far more than JUST Superman analogues (unlike say Hyperion), so ideally both should have more roles than just that.

It hit me with this post. The difference Is that Adam is a superman analog and Sentry is really Miracle Man/Shazam if you squint. . . I see why they would get cast against each other, but its not necessary.

[leo619]

Adam appeared in Doom #5.

Why even mention that garbage book? It's clearly obvious the writer has no idea or intentions of knowing who the blue Marvel is, up to the point of treating him like a whipping boy. This guy clearly can't write a powerful black male to save his life, but to me, everything in that book I just ignore.

[JudicatorPrime]

It hit me with this post. The difference Is that Adam is a superman analog and Sentry is really Miracle Man/Shazam if you squint. . . I see why they would get cast against each other, but its not necessary.

I think both Sentry and Blue Marvel are sufficiently nuanced now that you can't really draw parallels to either Superman or Shazam. I will admit, though, that Blue Marvel and Icon could be closely compared given that one has mastered antiparticles, while the other is a master of positrons. But even with those close similarities, everything else about them is night and day from every version of Clark Kent. And when you add someone like Silver Sable being able to body slam Adam -- a man who wrestles with tens of thousands of tons of mass without breaking a sweat -- then we can also add that he's nothing like Clark with respect to how writers treat him. There's no way in hell that someone like Huntress is body slamming Superman. Seriously, they should lose their jobs for even thinking of putting something that ridiculous in a Marvel book.

[The Cool Thatguy]

I think both Sentry and Blue Marvel are sufficiently nuanced now that you can't really draw parallels to either Superman or Shazam. I will admit, though, that Blue Marvel and Icon could be closely compared given that one has mastered antiparticles, while the other is a master of positrons. But even with those close similarities, everything else about them is night and day from every version of Clark Kent. And when you add someone like Silver Sable being able to body slam Adam -- a man who wrestles with tens of thousands of tons of mass without breaking a sweat -- then we can also add that he's nothing like Clark with respect to how writers treat him. There's no way in hell that someone like Huntress is body slamming Superman. Seriously, they should lose their jobs for even thinking of putting something that ridiculous in a Marvel book.

Superman was once taken out by Batman whistling. Cap judo'd the Hulk.

The Doom mini is a complete and utter hot mess, but please don't act like Blue is the only one to get dumped on

[JudicatorPrime]

Superman was once taken out by Batman whistling. Cap judo'd the Hulk.

The Doom mini is a complete and utter hot mess, but please don't act like Blue is the only one to get dumped on

More like I was saying that he's the only one that gets dumped on regularly. But noted.